Displays

Photo credit: Lets Go Digital
We have seen the future of mirrors, and they can either be used normally, or as a television set. LG first applied for a “Mirror Display” patent back in 2017, and it was just published on March 5, 2019 by the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office). Unlike Samsung’s mirror TV, LG’s offering boasts touchscreen functionality, thanks to an in-cell touch sensor. In other words, the company is able to integrate a touch screen without added thickness. Read more to see the patent and for additional information.

Photo credit: Jeffrey Lee
Folding smartphones are the latest craze, but the next big thing will be flexible displays, and if Tesla ever decides to get into the mobile phone business, this is how the company may use them. Called the “Tesla C1,” this device was not designed to fold, but rather sports a flexible display that can be pulled apart to reveal a larger one, making it perfect for productivity, games and more. On a related note, did you know that research and development into flexible OLED displays largely began in the late 2000s? The goal back then is the same as now, to implement the technology in mobile devices. Read more for additional pictures and information.

Photo. credit: Roy Gilsing Design
Max Weinbach of XDA Developers reports that the Apple iPhone 11 will use a display device capable of being submerged completely underwater. “The next iPhones are probably going to have displays that work underwater. It’s in the prototype stage right now but seems likely. They have a patent for it and are finally doing it,” said Max. There are different IP ratings that establish how rugged something is, for example, a mobile phone rated at IP68 is “dust resistant” and can be “immersed in 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes”. Read more for additional pictures of the folding iPhone that probably won’t make it into production and additional information.

Apple may have revealed a new iPhone or mobile phone-like device through a recently released patent filing that hints at a flexible display. This patent for a device with a foldable display and a hinge is a continuation of another one the company had first filed in 2011 and later updated in 2016. Published on February 14, 2019 by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), it describes that flexible displays may be mounted to the housing portions overlapping the hinge, which if rotated relative to each other, the flexible display may bend. Read more for a video and additional information.

LG’s 29WK600-W 29″ UltraWide 21:9 IPS Monitor is touted as best in its class, and you can get one for $199.90 shipped, today only, originally $249.99. Its ultra-thin bezel on three sides of the display provide a virtually border-less visual experience, without distraction from the precise, stunning image. AMD FreeSync lets gamers experience seamless, fluid movement throughout hi-res, fast-paced games by eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. Product page. Read more for another video review and additional information.

Photo credit: CNETTCL’s 55S405 55″ 4K Roku Smart LED TV will let you enjoy the next Super Bowl in ultra HD resolution, all for $349.99 shipped, today only, originally $599.99. The Roku TV Smart functionality offers access to over 4,000 streaming channels with more than 450,000 movies and TV episodes. The display pairs 4K Ultra HD picture clarity with the contrast, color, and detail of High Dynamic Range (HDR) for the most lifelike picture possible. Product page. Read more for another hands-on video and additional information.

Xiaomi has unveiled a new in-display fingerprint sensor with a much larger active area, or at least compared to the one used on their Mi 8 flagship phone released last year. Weibo post by president and co-founder Lin Bin has just posted a video showcasing Xiaomi’s prototype phone with a new fingerprint sensor that covers an active area of 25 x 50mm. In other words, users can unlock it by even tapping in the middle of the display. Read more to see it in-action and for additional information.

Photo credit: LetsGoDigital
LG Electronics recently filed a patent for an ‘electronic device’ that describes a foldable mobile phone with the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Office) and USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), and it was published on December 27, 2018. Simply put, when this smartphone is folded, the flexible display is on the outside and extends to the entire rear via the right-hand edges. In the middle, there’s a spring-loaded hinge that can keeps the device open when the display is fully opened. There’s no official word yet on pricing or availability, but we may catch a glimpse of it at Mobile World Congress 2019 in Barcelona next month. Read more for additional images of the patent and information.

For those unfamiliar with NVIDIA G-Sync, it’s basically a proprietary adaptive sync technology developed aimed primarily at eliminating screen tearing and the need for software alternatives such as Vsync. It eliminates screen tearing by allowing a video display to adapt to the frame rate of the output device (GPU) rather than it adapting to the display, which could traditionally be refreshed halfway through the process of a frame being output by the device, resulting in screen tearing, or two or more frames being shown at once. NVIDIA announced at CES 2019 that it would support some of AMD’s FreeSync displays, thanks to a new GeForce GPU driver. Read more for another video and additional information.

Sony officially unveiled its first 8K TV line for consumers: the Master Series Z9G / ZG9. Available in 85″ and 98″ sizes, these displays feature an updated Picture Processor X1 Ultimate image processor, X-Reality PRO technology optimized for 8K content, as well as Netflix Calibrated Mode and IMAX Enhanced. To ensure you get the best quality sound as possible, Sony equipped these sets with Sound-from-Picture Reality, which makes dialog sound as though it’s coming from the actors on-screen, thanks to four, front-firing speakers — two on top, and two along the bottom of the screen. Read more for a video and additional information.